Campus news

April 2 symposium to dedicate new chemistry research institute

By Michael Barnes

ATTENTION: Reporters covering science, higher education

WHAT: A scientific symposium to celebrate the opening of the California Research Alliance at Berkeley (CARA), a multidisciplinary chemistry research institute funded by the chemical company BASF Corp. that will bring together researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford University and BASF.

WHEN: Symposium: 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 2, 2014.
Ribbon cutting 3:45 – 4:30 p.m.

WHERE: Symposium: 775 Tan Hall, College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley
Ribbon cutting: Chemistry Plaza

WHO:

  • Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, UC Berkeley
  • Douglas S. Clark, dean and professor in UC Berkeley’s College of Chemistry
  • Andreas Kreimeyer, member of the board, BASF
  • Harald Lauke, president of biological and effect systems research at BASF
  • Peter Schuhmacher, president of process research & chemical engineering at BASF
  • Gray Davis, former governor of California
  • Chancellor Gene Block, UCLA

DETAILS: BASF Corp., the world’s largest chemical company, is teaming up with three major universities on the West Coast to set up a multidisciplinary research institute with an emphasis on new inorganic materials and their applications, biosciences and related technologies. Called CARA, it will bring together researchers from widely varied science and engineering disciplines at UC Berkeley, Stanford University and UCLA to work shoulder-to-shoulder with their BASF counterparts and make new materials with unprecedented precision to bring about a revolution in the functionality and performance of materials. The center will operate under a “hub and spokes” model, in which the research projects and activities are headquartered and coordinated from a hub at UC Berkeley’s College of Chemistry.

After an introduction by BASF officials and CARA director Peidong Yang, a UC Berkeley professor of chemistry, the symposium will feature eight short scientific presentations, including one by UC Berkeley professor Jennifer Doudna, who has been making scientific news as the one of the discoverers of the CRISPR/Cas9 gene splicing system that could revolutionize genomic research and gene therapy.

NOTE: Reporters interested in attending the symposium or ribbon cutting should contact Michael Barnes at (510) 642-6867, m_barnes@berkeley.edu.